BRAINCAKEDNA Barcode
DNA barcoding identifies a species from the base sequence of a short, standard section of DNA, in the same way that a barcode identifies a product in a shop.
A good barcode region varies very little within a species but a lot between species, and is present in all the organisms in a group. Different regions are used for different groups:
• animals: part of the mitochondrial gene COI (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I), about 650 base pairs long
• plants: two genes found in the chloroplast, rbcL and matK
• fungi: a non-coding region of ribosomal DNA called ITS.
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More in Classification
- Biological Concept of Species
- Other Species Models
- Limitations of Species Models
- Identifying a Species
- DNA Analysis and Proteomics
- New Evolutionary Models
- Biochemical Relationships
- More Biochemical Relationships
All 19 lessons in Classification · All Edexcel AS-level Biology topics